Koyudo H012

This is a very little review on a very big brush, the Koyudo H012 is a fan brush that may change your opinion on what fan brushes are capable to do…

This wonder brush falls into the category of :  “BWB” = Brush With Benefits.

Let’s start with the details of the brush, then we can speak of those benefits.

Size

Hair length : 4cm
Base of ferrule 5.5cm
Hair thickness (sideways) : 2.5cm
Material : Goat/squirrel
Price : 7200 JPY

It is delivered in a cardboard box with a little velvet pouch, personally I don’t like little pouches like this for fan brushes because to take the brush out, you might need to pull it by the bristles and even if you push it out, the sides will be trapped  in the pouch, I am just being very picky here but since there are pouches that open both sides to avoid that issue, I may recommend you to use the ones that will definitely not damage the hair.

This is a comparison with other similar fans, it gives you an idea of its size vs twinish brothers :

The Koyudo H012 is not a tapered fan brush like the Hakuhodo Fan Black, it’s very thick and it spreads out, the width of the surface is 7cmx2cm, therefore you will not get precision but a medium coverage and a diffused application.

The problem with the online shops is that it doesn’t show a picture of the brush as we want and need to see it, a flat  two dimensional picture is often not enough to convince a customer. We want to see how much it’s tapered and how much it covers.

The shape of the brush is similar to the Hakuhodo white fan and the Koyudo H013, the big difference is in the flexibility of the bristles, the white and pink fans are goat and are more firm and directional, they will also blend with more power.

In terms of softness, the H012 is very soft, soft like the Koyudo Fu-pa14 or the Hakuhodo Black fan, I know some of you already have that Fu-pa14 so you can relate to its softness for comparisons, just image it being less dense and more flexible with of course much longer bristles…

Now, you probably see all these fans and you wonder which one would be the best for you…
I am brainless when it comes to choosing a brush, when I love a shape I will collect them all – which is NOT a good idea.
Since it has no dye, the white fan is more appropriate for cream or liquid products, it’s less prone to get damaged by the ingredients, but before you ask, the answer is “no, it cannot replace the Rae Morris Radiance”. There is an amount of pressure you can put in these bristles and if you use the right pressure in my opinion this fan can blend powder but realistically not cream.
The pink is just cute as hell (or heaven?), it’s goat, soft goat hair, similar softness as the white fan actually. The Hakuhodo Black fan is blue squirrel and goat, it will deliver a precision that others don’t have but personally I get more use of a fluffy fan brush.

Here you can see how tapered the Hakuhodo Black fan is compared to the other 3 :

Very similar shape :

Now, these two following pictures are dedicated to Wayne, you probably know Wayne and his obsession with brushes, well, our imagination goes beyond sanity when we share our love for them… he inspired me and I just messed around with them for a little while, stroking my face with them  in stereo… (because I just have two hands you know…)  but I can double the pleasure and hold two in each hand 😉

Or if you are not a twisted mind, you can think of it as a yummy sandwich…

If you don’t like fans, you will find this little review a tad boring  :D… it won’t get any better further down.

For those of you who want to know how it compares to the Rae Morris Radiance -that I love for foundation-, in terms of shape and size, it’s very different. In terms of use, the Radiance can be used with cream and powder products, the Koyudo not. The Radiance will alter the application of your base makeup because the bristles are thick and firm, you can use it for blending all together though. The Koyudo will give you an overall application without altering with anything underneath, it will just layer and gently buff the products.

It terms of usage, it feels weird at first because it’s so wide you’ll have the impression of painting a wall. The application of bronzer is beautiful, enough diffused and enough precise for me, spot on. For blush, for me it’s working perfectly fine because of the way I tend to wear blush, I apply it more in a very wide and diffused stripe versus a centred application in the middle of cheeks.

You can use it in several directions, obviously not in circular motions, although it is possible it’s not its strength, but you can use the surface to place and work the product into the skin or the sides to brush it away.

It’s a big brush but since it’s dense and firm enough, it’s easily manoeuvrable it does have a lot of control during the application. For finishing powder it’s also spot on for me, I can work on the surface of the skin without putting too much pressure on the brush and just work like an abstract painter, and in a way you’ll feel like an artist, which gently brings us to the BENEFITS part of it…

Yeah, sane people can just stop reading here please or they will think I just went psychotic.

You hold it, you use it : You have a feeling of fullness that is extremely comforting and pleasant. A full-face massage that will make you feel immediate satisfaction. Just for that therapy I think it’s worth it.

We all are different and we all prefer different type of brushes,  I very much love when the pressure of the surface of the brush is the same from left to right (a flatish shape if that makes sense), it’s also probably why my favorite shape of blush brush is also round and flat. Not saying that tapered brushes are not good, they are good indeed, just feeling that some shapes are more therapeutic to use than others….